In May 2011 five groups of students traveled to Europe (Frankfurt, Bratislava and London), Asia (Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai), Southeast Asia (Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Shanghai), India (Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai) and Latin America (Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo) with the Global Leadership Program at the Cox School of Business.

Tuk-tukking through the Bangalore nightlife

An update from Elizabeth, MBA and Master of Arts Management ’12, who traveled to India with the Cox Global Leadership Program:

After our day with Amba and attempts at Bangalore sightseeing, we were ready to see the nightlife in Bangalore. On the recommendation of a number of our classmates (thank you Vittal and Roshni!), and even Sugandha at Amba, we decided to head to Opus. And we decided to take auto-rickshaws. These are motorized three-wheelers that have open sides, no seatbelts, and travel at terrifying speeds, weaving in and out of traffic. They’re fabulous.

The concierges had to look up the address, and then we had a ton of trouble getting drivers who would take us in the auto-rickshaws. Which, by the way, I call tuk-tuks, which I learned from an episode of “America’s Next Top Model” that took place in Thailand. Apparently it’s only a Thai term, yet they all seem to know what we’re talking about. In any case, we finally piled into a few cars and headed to the bar, though it was yet another adventure getting there. Sometimes Indian “addresses” are often descriptive more than specific (“near the intersection of this and that street, in the blue building, across from the small statue, next to the hotel”) but we got there and paid a small cover fee, then headed inside.

It’s a very modern, chic bar, and has a terrific atmosphere. Some sections are covered, but the main part is outdoors, and in the center are rows of low tables with padded benches built into the ground-scaping, which is all rocks. We grabbed a few tables and were thrilled to learn: It was karaoke night. Erika sang, Eric sang, Stacy sang, the rest of us provided regular back-up dancing, and mostly we listened to a series of Indian club-goers sing American songs from all genres and generations incredibly well. The tall, heavy DJ sang Cee-Lo’s song “Forget You,” a 13-year-old girl sang “Zombie” from the Cranberries, a short 45-year-old man with a pony tail sang anything from AC/DC or Led Zeppelin, four guys from Mexico sang “La Bamba” and a number of young guys got up and killed raps from Kanye, Ludicris and others. We all danced and sang along, enjoying the regular interruption of brownouts when the power died and everything went dark except for the tea lights on the tables. By the end of the night the crowd hardly paused when it happened – we just kept singing and dancing, and when the karaoke machine came back on, whoever had been singing jumped back to where they stopped and continued.

Afterward, we found our beloved tuk-tuks and made them race each other back to the hotel. My Arts Marketing study group (me, Ashley and Erika) reunitued for the ride. Erika filmed our entire wild journey, which involved much excited shrieking, yelling, high-fiving of strangers on scooters, and attempts to explain to the camera, over the sound of the tuk-tukking motor, what we were doing. Until we realized we hadn’t been recording.

So the videographic evidence will have to wait until the next tuk-tuk, but rest assured, our night out in Bangalore was a blast!